(A/N: Right, this is it. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate your feedback, should you choose to give it)

Chapter 20

To Embrace the Dawn

Rin's eyes wrestled to open. She didn't want them to open, but she could feel someone breathing over her. Letting one lid pop up languidly her eye rolled about trying to have the world come into focus. The mass of blurs configured into a simpering Inuyasha, inches from her face.

Why is he waking me up right now? Is this a nightmare?

He tapped her head with one knuckle quite animatedly, "Get up princess, you have some damage control to do today!" His voice was purposefully loud and created an insufferable ringing in the little girl's ears. They must have returned me to the village while I was sleeping. It was a harsh truth to face in the morning. Rin was back in the real world…the world in which she had used a hair accessory to stab an odorous snot-nosed brat. A world filled with consequences and penance. She was in mental agony.

"You better not take long getting ready!"

Inuyasha called, taunting, as he exited the hut. Rin groaned as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eye. She crawled her way into an upright position, clumsily clutching on to anything her hands could find as her mind desperately attempted to catch up to her body.

Once she had gotten herself dressed and settled, she met Inuyasha outside of Kaede's hut and the two trotted toward the interior of the village. Rin was keeping her steps as upbeat as possible to calm her nerves. Inuyasha was distractedly looking up into the trees with his arms folded in his sleeves.

"Inuyasha-sama?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Shinokiri-hime and Sesshomaru-sama are okay now?"

"Heh, those two? I wouldn't bet on it."

Inuyasha was lost in his trumpet of scoff to recognize that Rin had stopped walking when he turned to look down at nothing. Halting and pivoting to face behind him, he saw Rin a ways back on the path. Her head was down, but he could her body tremble in sadness.

It's all my fault. Rin clenched her fist as her thoughts mangled her ability to move.

Inuyasha stomped up the path to her. He exhaled a heavy breath looking at the disheartened child. He couldn't help but feel bad for Rin. She was a sensitive soul. Poor kid. She's beating herself up about it. The hanyou ruffled the little girl's hair vigorously in order to snap her out of it, but to no avail.

He himself wondered about the state of the couple. They both seemed so emotionally pent-up that he had no choice to be pessimistic. Communication wasn't their strong suit. He just hoped they didn't kill each other. Only time would tell…but he knew it would be of no use upsetting his daily routine over the whole thing. It's not like it was any of his business anyway.

"Hey kid, look, don't let their problems mess you up. Maybe if you lead by example they can figure it out…right?"

Rin slowly looked up at Inuyasha and her expression softened before bursting into a beam. "Right!"

"Good. Let's go. I don't want this to take all day. Got it?"

Rin perked up and continued down the path with Inuyasha. Before long, she could see the target hut, but Inuyasha did not slow down.

"Isn't this it Inuyasha-sama?"

"Yup, I ain't stayin' so I can get yelled at because you're a little psychopath. Hurry up, I'll be back soon."

With that, Rin found herself alone in front of the hut's entrance, peeking in the window and bobbing her head about to quietly let her presence be known. The front door slid open violently fast, and a very red-faced woman popped her head out.

"What are you doing here you little savage? Haven't you wreaked enough havoc?! My Hitoshi is lucky to still have his life after your vicious attack!"

Rin had to fight to stifle a laugh. It was hard to tell what was funnier, the hyperbole or the ironic name. Quickly, while she still had her resolve, she knelt to the ground and bowed low.

"I have come to apologize for my rash actions toward your son. It was disgraceful, and I have dishonored my guardians. Please accept my sincerest apologies."

Not having to look up, Rin could sense the woman's fury shift into smug satisfaction.

"Well! I suppose I could let it go…it's not like you could know better, being raised by animals. I'm sure my darling Hitoshi would like to hear this. Stay here…I don't want you to bring filth inside my home."

Still, Rin did not lift her head. If she looked up, then the humiliation would set in, and she needed to get through it before she could allow herself to get upset. She heard heavy footsteps leave and lighter footsteps replacing them in return.

"Well…I want my apology."

It was the voice of the bully she had stabbed with her hair pin. It was, in this moment, infuriating to hear, considering the circumstances. Rin could feel her blood boil, but it passed once she looked up briefly to his arm wrapped up as if was broken…sling and all. How ridiculous…

Rin bit down on the insides of her cheeks and muscled through it. "I am so sorry for what I did you, Hitoshi-senpai. It was wrong of me, and I hope to gain your forgiveness if you see it right to give it to me." Rin spat the words out as quickly as possible to get the vile taste of them from out of her mouth.

"Good. I'm going to make sure you really do feel sorry," Hitoshi smiled darkly. He then pressed his foot hard into Rin's bowed head, forcing a whimper out of her. He made sure to position himself so that her hairpin scraped against her scalp as he leaned in with his foot. Rin clenched her fists in order to force herself not to react

"Only cowards hurt people who are smaller than them."

A startled Hitoshi fell back. Now free from the pressure of his foot, Rin's head popped up to see the source of the familiar voice.

"Kohaku!"

Her chest effervesced at the sight of him. She could not be happier to see anyone in that moment. His eyes sparkled at her as he helped her up and dusted her off. Rin giggled as Kirara hopped to her shoulder and nuzzled the crook of her neck. "Are you ok Rin-chan?"

"Yeah, thanks Kohaku-kun!"

Hitoshi cowered in horror up at the giant kusarigama resting on Kohaku's shoulder. "Are you going to hurt me?"

Kohaku sniffed a half laugh, "Didn't I just explain that you?"

Hitoshi's head shook with nodding as he scrambled back into the safety of his hut.

"Oh hey Kohaku! Sango's expecting you!"

Inuyasha called in his approach, waving his arm a bit. "Yeah, I'm on my way there now Inuyasha-san!" Kohaku turned back to Rin as Kirara leapt back on his shoulder, "See you later, Rin-chan!" Rin blushed to herself as Kohaku jogged away in the direction of Sango and Miroku's hut, briefly passing Inuyasha, the too nodded in greeting.

Once he reached Rin, Inuyasha nudged her on the shoulder to urge her into motion. "You done kid?" "Oh, yeah…yes Inuyasha-sama." Snapped out of her mind's idleness she followed Inuyasha back to Kaede's hut.

"How'd it go?"

Rin smiled quietly to herself and blushed thinking back on Kohaku. "It went well."

"What are you so happy about, kid?"

Rin's blush deepened. "Nothing."

The half-breed grimaced in confusion. Females are so weird. I'll never get it.

The dawn began to erase the stars from the sky. An heir would be made. An heir had been made. Sesshomaru and Shinokiri had taken each other many times, in many ways. Most importantly, Sesshomaru had mounted Shinokiri in their true forms. A joyous threshold had been crossed into an army of little happy deaths.

Now, awake only in a dream-like state, Shinokiri forced herself up in order to dress. She still felt the need to move. Now that it was over, she had to leave to make sure things stayed perfect.

Before she could rise to slip silk on her back she felt her lover's claw softly trace her spine. Her back flexed at the feeling against her bare skin. It echoed the tingling of the dewy grass touching her legs. Cool and delicate. Yet, she felt it menacing.

Sesshomaru could feel her nervousness—not just feel it…it was painfully obvious. Unconsciously, she had coated the ground with fog. It blanketed them; obscuring one lover from the other. Their minds were still cloudy in the newness of the morning.

"Do you not trust me yet?"

"I want to, my lord"

Sesshomaru pulled her back to him with a snaking arm around her waist. She willingly fell back against his warm, firm chest. Her hair was loose and draped Sesshomaru's body, providing a great comfort to him. He silently watched the rise and fall of her breasts—a preferable sight to her ponderous face.

Shinokiri closed her eyes and tried to sync her breathing to her mate's. "Do I ask too much of you…are you sure you want this?"

The demon lord had never wanted to kill this particular demoness more in his entire existence. She had come this far to get what she wanted, putting him through a veritable hell to get to this point. Why is she balking?

He would have to reassure her now. This was his role. It was his role, and it would always be a process.

"Yes."

His word was final and true and it hit its mark. Shinokiri turned her body over by her head and placed flower petal of a kiss on Sesshomaru's chest. She leaned her forehead into his heart beat, as her hair cascaded down the side of one shoulder. Sesshomaru lifted his neck with a small sound of struggle and brushed his lips on top of her head.

The fog lifted with the songs of birds in the trees. The earth began to warm. The female sat up, still leaning her hip on the male. Her eyes rested on the still red marks on his neck and she stroked his throat with her thumb ruefully. He briefly mirrored her action before letting his hand fall between her breasts and back to his side.

"We will not be so weak again."

It was possible that Sesshomaru's words would stick. Far more probable that they wouldn't. No matter. His saying the words made all the difference. Shinokiri's eyes glittered with the coming of the sun.

"Your mother will be so pleased."

"Hn."

Sesshomaru turned his head away into the blades of grass and Shinokiri chuckled softly at his reaction. And fell back down. She reveled in the calm, in Sesshomaru's voice, in the whispered flutter of life inside of her.

In this quiet, they both felt full. It was not until this moment that they realized that they never had been whole…not until now. Facing opposite of each other, their back only slightly touching, they had never felt so secure in each other. Their fair skin glowed in the fresh sunlight and all of the warmth felt like that moment, all of that moment felt like the sun. It was hard to leave it.

Sesshomaru shot up with enough speed and force to break the spell. "Get dressed. It is unseemly to be so idle." Following orders, Shinokiri joined him in making herself presentable. They finished side by side, not looking at each other.

"I still have not truly tested the potential of the blade forged from your claw. It undoubtedly has many hidden and extraordinary powers."

"Yes, that is to be expected."

"It is my honor to use it in your name, Sesshomaru-sama."

Shinokiri's tongue savored the taste of each syllable of his name. The sun was in their sightline, and a breeze passed through them allowing the fabric of their sleeves to touch. Shinokiri looked down at his hand, and allowed hers to graze his, and he allowed his fingers to intertwine with hers in return.